After much deliberation, we're so excited to announce the shortlists of nominees for the 2024 Rando Awards! All these authors have been selected for most excellent work in both fiction and non-fiction. Each award and shortlist has been sponsored and composed by a single judge. Works may or may not have been published in 2024.
Winners will be announced in the coming weeks!
The Rando Award for The Best of the First
Dungeon Crawler Carl, by Matt Dinniman
The House in the Cerulean Sea, by TJ Klune
The Sunbearer Trials, by Aiden Thomas
The Wrath & The Dawn, by Renée Ahdieh
The City of Brass, by S.A. Chakraborty
The Rando Award for Oof, Right in the Emotions
The Spear Cuts Through Water, by Simon Jimenez
Children of Time, by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Hench, by Natalie Zina Walschots
The Blacktongue Thief, by Christopher Buehlman
Some Desperate Glory, by Emily Tesh
The Rando Award for Stellar Storytellers
Diary of an Apprentice Astronaut, by Samantha Cristoforetti
How to Astronaut, by Terry Virts
A City on Mars, by Kelly Weinersmith and Zach Weinersmith
Chasing Space, by Leland Melvin
Not Necessarily Rocket Science, by Kellie Gerardi
The Rando Award for We Live in a Society
Who Gets To Be Smart, by Bri Lee
The Marigold, by Andrew F Sullivan
The City in the Middle of the Night, by Charlie Jane Anders
The Faithless and the Damned, by Sev Romero
The Winnowing Draw, by Michael Tichy
The Rando Award for Social Commentary in the Streets, Monster Fucking in the Sheets
Morning Glory Milking Farm, by C.M. Nascosta
Jumping the Shark: Matched with the Space Shark, by Ash Raven
Impromptu Match, by Lily Mayne
How to Get a Girlfriend (When You’re a Terrifying Monster), by Marie Cardno
Stalked by the Kraken, by Lillian Lark
The Rando Award for Life is But a Dream
Famous Men Who Never Lived, by K. Chess
The Museum of Human History, by Rebekah Bergman
The Spear Cuts Through Water, by Simon Jimenez
Gnomon, by Nick Harkaway
Time’s Agent, by Brenda Peynado
The Rando Award for Reminding Me I Love Reading
The Invisible Library, by Genevieve Cogman
Rules for Ghosting, by Shelly Jay Shore
Witch of Wild Things, by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland
Consort of Fire, by Kit Rocha
Slippery Creatures, by KJ Charles
The Rando Award for Nordic Feels
The Night Guest, by Hildur Knútsdóttir
Someone You Can Build a Nest In, by John Wiswell
Leech, by Hiron Ennes
Quarter Share, by Nathan Lowell
What Feasts at Night, by T. Kingfisher
The Rando Award for Best of All Possible Genderverses
In Universes, by Emet North
Confessions of the Fox, by Jordy Rosenberg
The Unraveling, by Benjamin Rosenbaum
The Space Between Worlds, by Micaiah Johnson
The Husbands, by Holly Gramazio